Viva Las Vegas
We stayed in the 5* Encore which is an all suite hotel, attached to its sister hotel the Wynn. The rooms I have to say are the largest ‘standard’ rooms I have ever stayed in and are probably as large as the ground floor of my 4 bedroom house! The property is huge and you need a map to orientate yourself or trust me you will get lost!
It is situated on the Strip so well located for all that Las Vegas has to offer. It also has a golf course, several swimming pools, theatres, restaurants and entertainment venues so is a mini resort in itself.
One of the highlights was to take a trip over the Grand Canyon, We were taken to the airport at the opposite end of the Strip, just a 10 minute car journey, where we boarded our helicoptor. The excursion took about 4 hours in all, and the whole time was just amazing, flying over the Hoover Dame, flying low through the Canyon and landing right down in the Canyon was just awesome. Another highlight are the shows, No where outs in a show like Las Vegas. I managed to see two amazing performances: Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Viva Elvis’ at the Aria Resort and Casino which was really excellent and more of a tribute history, and ‘Le Reve’ at the Wynn theatre which was really superb with some amazing effects. Most shows cost from about £80 per ticket but you can get discounted tickets on the day from several outlets in the city.
Our visit to Las Vegas coincided perfectly with England’s match against the USA in the world cup, so where else would we watch it but at the Venetian/Palazzo’s very own sports bar – Lagasse’s stadium. What a great venue! We enjoyed excellent private dining surrounded by countless large television screens, and an upper gallery of US fans! It was probably just as well it was a draw!
Amongst all the fun, we did get to do some work. We did a few hotel inspections, and I managed to see the Bellagio, and Mandalay Bay. However Las Vegas is one of those places where you can stay in one hotel, but visit many for dining and entertainment. The key is to get out and about and experience lots of what the city has to offer. I haven’t mentioned the gambling here but it is everywhere and you can opt to take part in it or not. It is more obvious in some hotels rather than others, and the stakes can be high. However this is not all Las Vegas has to offer.
This was just a short break of 4 nights and we managed to squash a lot in. It is an amazing place and can be combined with anywhere else in the US, so make a plan to include it in your future American holiday itinerary!